Entries tagged with “Roper v. Simmons”

May 01, 2025

DPI’s Podcast 12:01 The Death Penalty in Context: Experts Discuss the Legacy of Roper v. Simmons

In this month’s pod­cast episode of *12:01: The Death Penalty* *in Context*, DPI’s Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Professors Craig Haney and Frank Baumgartner, and DPI’s Staff Attorney Leah Roemer about the lega­cy of the US Supreme Court’s deci­sion in *Roper v. Simmons* and the legal and sci­en­tif­ic land­scape sur­round­ing the use of the death penal­ty for young adults ages 18 – 20. Professors Baumgartner and Haney, along with fel­low researcher Karen Steele,…

May 01, 2025

Experts Discuss the Legacy of Roper v. Simmons

In this month’s pod­cast episode of *12:01: The Death Penalty* *in Context*, DPI’s Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Professors Craig Haney and Frank Baumgartner, and DPI’s Staff Attorney Leah Roemer about the lega­cy of the US Supreme Court’s deci­sion in *Roper v. Simmons* and the legal and sci­en­tif­ic land­scape sur­round­ing the use of the death penal­ty for young adults ages 18 – 20. Professors Baumgartner and Haney, along with fel­low researcher Karen Steele,…

Apr 30, 2025

Immature Minds in a ​“Maturing Society”: Roper v. Simmons at 20

In 2005, in Roper v. Simmons, the United States Supreme Court held that the ​“Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments for­bid impo­si­tion of the death penal­ty on offend­ers who were under the age of eigh­teen when their crimes were com­mit­ted.” The deci­sion, after the exe­cu­tion of twen­ty-two peo­ple who com­mit­ted crimes under the age of 18 dur­ing the mod­ern death penal­ty era, marked the end of the juve­nile death penal­ty in the United States.

Apr 30, 2025

New DPI Report Examines the Legacy of Roper v. Simmons and Its Implications for 18- to 20-Year-Olds in Death Penalty Cases

In com­mem­o­ra­tion of the 20th anniver­sary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s land­mark deci­sion end­ing the juve­nile death penal­ty, the Death Penalty Information Center (DPI) today released a new report: Immature Minds in a​“Maturing Society”: *Roper v. Simmons* at 20, detail­ing grow­ing sup­port that indi­vid­u­als ages 18, 19, and 20 should receive the same age-appro­pri­ate con­sid­er­a­tions that juve­niles now receive in death penal­ty cas­es. > \[T\]here is no bright line regarding…

Apr 10, 2025

A Retreat from the Harshest Punishments for Emerging Adult Defendants

*To com­mem­o­rate the 20th anniver­sary of the United States Supreme Court deci­sion that end­ed the juve­nile death penal­ty, DPI will release a report exam­in­ing the lega­cy of this deci­sion and its impli­ca­tions for emerg­ing adults. This arti­cle exam­ines one area of focus in the report: recent state courts deci­sions that have extend­ed legal pro­tec­tions to emerg­ing adults ages 18 to 20.* In 2012, in *Miller v. Alabama*, the U.S. Supreme Court empha­sized that​“youth matters”…

Mar 13, 2025

Articles of Interest: What Experts are Saying About Emerging Adult Behavioral Development Since Roper v. Simmons

Twenty years ago this month, the Supreme Court in its land­mark deci­sion *Roper v. Simmons* found cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment for indi­vid­u­als under 18 years of age uncon­sti­tu­tion­al under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. In explain­ing their deci­sion, the Court drew in part on​“sci­en­tif­ic and soci­o­log­i­cal” stud­ies show­ing that a lack of matu­ri­ty in youth can lead to​“impetu­ous and ill-con­sid­ered actions and deci­sions,” which sup­port­ed the idea that this cohort were…

Upcoming Executions

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Jan 14, 2025

New Analysis: Marion Bowman’s Scheduled Execution in South Carolina Raises Concerns About Youth Culpability, Fits Pattern of Disproportionate Executions of Young Black Men

When Marion Bowman was arrest­ed at age 20 for the mur­der of Kandee Martin, soci­ety did not con­sid­er him mature enough to drink alco­hol, rent a car, or enter a casi­no. Yet he was deemed old enough to be sen­tenced to death. Now 44, he has spent over half his life on South Carolina’s death row and is sched­uled for exe­cu­tion on January 31. ​“Retribution is not pro­por­tion­al if the law’s most severe penal­ty is imposed on one whose cul­pa­bil­i­ty or blame­wor­thi­ness is dimin­ished, to a substantial degree…

Upcoming Executions

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Nov 21, 2024

Alabama is Set to Execute Carey Grayson in its Third Nitrogen Gas Execution in 2024

Alabama is sched­uled to exe­cute Carey Grayson by nitro­gen hypox­ia on November 21, 2024, for his involve­ment with three oth­er teens in the death of a hitch­hik­er in 1994, when he was 19 years old. Mr. Grayson’ exe­cu­tion would be Alabama’s sixth exe­cu­tion in 2024, and the third by nitro­gen hypox­ia. The state acknowl­edged Mr. Grayson was not the most cul­pa­ble of the group, yet he is the only one of the four teens to face an exe­cu­tion. Mr. Grayson, and three oth­ers, were…

Issues

Aug 12, 2022

American Psychological Association Overwhelmingly Votes to Adopt Resolution Opposing Death Penalty for Adolescents Aged 18 – 20

The American Psychological Association (APA) has over­whelm­ing­ly adopt­ed a res­o­lu­tion call­ing for courts and leg­is­la­tors to ban the use of the death penal­ty against peo­ple charged with com­mit­ting crimes while they were under age 21. Saying that​“the same sci­en­tif­ic and soci­etal rea­sons” that led the U.S. Supreme Court to bar cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment for offend­ers younger than age 18 also​“apply to the late ado­les­cent class,” the APA, the nation’s largest professional…